As The World Falls
by Artemis615
Summary: 14 years ago, Kenshin is introduced to a very important person - The last Feudal Princess of Nihon. She consoles him, points him to what he should do when he is in doubt about the assassinations, and comfort him with her warm hands. Kenshin met her again 10 years after Bakumatsu Era ends. She grew up, and becomes a beautiful woman. Which left him wanting her. KenshinxOC
1. Before The Era Ends

_**A/N: HELLO HELLO HELLOOOOO! I am Artemis, and I write fanfics! I finally decided to write a Kenshin fanfic! Based entirely on the Live Action 2012 one! KYAAAAAAAAAA!**_

_**Ehem. **_

_**Here is the story of Kenshin and my character, Saya-Denka-Hime. Yes, sounds complicated. I want her to sound complicated, because of her old royal bloodline and all the old laws and all Feudal status and all. I was hoping that I won't OOC her too much you know? I mean, I love Kenshin-sama. He is just so... you know? You just wanna reach out a hand to him and say everything is gonna be alright because you are finally here for him and all and... **_

_**kthxbye. **_

_**Enjoy the read! Do leave a review and tell me of your opinions on this new fic of mine. I do hope it sounds, looks and when you've finished reading it, it woulda sound awesome enough for me to just go on writing on and on and on just like how I have loved to write In The Light -MAN fanfic and SARANG HAE YO CITY HUNGER fanfic... so cool.**_

_**So cool...**_

_**Kenshin-sama...**_

_**Yummy...**_

_***drool***_

_**kthxbye. **_

* * *

**Fanfiction Title: As The World Falls **

**A Rurouni Kenshin Romance Fanfic  
****Main Characters: KENSHIN AND OC (SHIRATOE SAYA)**

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**Chapter 1: Before the Era ends…**

"For the sake of a new era… can you work as an assassin?" the man said to him while he drew calligraphy.

The light noise coming from between the doors were a strange comfort to him. White noise, something to drown out the insistent ringing in his ears when he is in a tight closed room... He didn't like that kind of noise, and so, he liked to be in a place where there is just the right amount of noises to make it just a bit more bearable to live out this life.

There were a few people in a room. One is the man writing calligraphy, while there is another man sitting beside him. Both young and handsome... The helper is the man's most trusted servant, also a bodyguard to his master. Apart from Kenshin himself, there is another person in the room, sitting just right in a spacious corner with a transparent blind set up in front of her. Kenshin can make out that she is sipping her tea from the soft lights of the candle in front of her, and she is graceful with the way she handles her tea. Her stature appears to be small… short, even. Maybe she is the master's child…?

"Beyond those lives sacrificed. If there is a new era where people can live in peace…" he said quietly, his head still looking down on the floor.

And he heard a small laugh from behind the door, and from the silhouettes of the blinds, he could make out that the girl is nodding her head in agreement to what he had said. The master looked at her briefly through his eyelashes, and seemed to saw her giving him a signal or so, and he nodded his head at her and looked at Kenshin.

"Commence the plan then, Battousai Himura…" the master said to him solemnly.

This were his thoughts before he killed the young samurai, so brave and determine to not die until he were to see his fiancée for the last time.

As Kenshin sat on his knees with his back straight and his head looking down on the tatami mat (Tatami mat – Japanese floor board) in the private room in one of the most famous high class restaurants in Kyoto, he ponders on the thought on whether killing people as the Battousai Hitokiri is appropriate. There is a major conflict in his head right now, and his heart constricted against his ribcage within his chest when he thought back about how he had killed the young Samurai, who is going to get married to the girl of his dreams just the day after tomorrow.

And Kenshin had crushed the young couple's dreams to be wedded to each other by killing the groom the night before the big day…

For that sin, he received the first scar ever from the groom, right on his face.

And for the second scar, he got it from the bride-to-be of the groom, deep and obvious on his face. Now, he is marked. A huge 'X' on his left side cheek...

He kills, yes, and the first time he killed the young samurai, it had been his first assignment to be an all out assassin. And to kill a man who had made an unbreakable promise to someone he loves, his heart contracted tightly against his ribcage. And it had hurt to breathe.

It hurts to breathe.

"Killing the young who have their future ahead of them... Assassinations to bring a new era... I have my doubts. Am I doing the right thing…?" he thought to himself.

"_You're nothing more than a murderer_…" these words rings in his head constantly.

"You're not," said the girl from behind the blinds suddenly, surprising Kenshin.

For all the times in their private meetings, the girl has never said anything. She is just there, sitting in a corner to sip her tea quietly, as if to be the sole listener to their private talks and deals between he master and Kenshin himself.

Servants suddenly came in through the door and quickly removed the blinds from her way. She had stood up, and Kenshin had almost balked at the sight of the young child standing up with her back straight and eyes looking as wild as if there are fire burning inside those light brown eyes. Her painted red lips were a sight to behold, and alongside her light brown eyes – which were peculiar enough that it sent a shiver down his spine as he regards the young child who looked no older than 11 – she looked like a spirit of sort, staring down at him and regard him with her very light brown eyes.

The master stood up to regard her as well, and everyone bowed to her. Kenshin followed suit, and bows to her. She went up to him and sat in front of him on her knees. Her yukata were perfectly made – expensive and made from silk, with golden embroideries and lotus flowers blooming everywhere on her yukata. _She is someone important,_ he regard to himself quietly; Important enough that the Master, the lord himself would bow to her…

"Kenshin-san," she calls on him. "I permit you to look at me, so please look up and stop looking down on the floor…"

Kenshin had no choice but to obey to her command. He looked up, and he is struck with the fact that despite her being young, she is already a blooming beauty. Her fair cheeks seems aflame with the permanent blush on her cheeks from the light fire from the candlelight. Her eyes were ethereal, her lips are red, and she is a young and beautiful child.

Young and beautiful…

"This is the last Feudal Princess of our great Nihon country, Saya Hime-sama (Hime – Princess)," the lord introduced her to him, and his heart skipped another beat.

Feudal Princess…!? Why, her status alone spoke powers beyond his imaginations, and, so far he knew, she is the one and only person powerful enough to overrule the King's words, if ever they were to have a King, and in this case, the Lord himself. If she so wanted to, she could command the Lord to come down from his throne and let her sit on it. The powers of the Feudal Lord and Ladies were powerful enough, and not to mention that this is not just any Lord and Ladies…

She is a Feudal Princess.

A Princess… A direct descendant of the old King from the old royal bloodline... There writes a law for all of Nihon people to take note of. All of the direct descendants of the royal bloodline, namely all the Feudal Lord, Lady, Prince and Princesses, have the most utmost powers to overrule the current ruler's words and, if they so wishes to, they themselves can make themselves as the ruler with their words alone. Their existence is infinitely more important than anyone living at this moment in Nihon, and their words are power enough for the country of Nihon.

And this law is to live forever…

"I am Shiratoe Saya," she said to him, bowing to him slightly. "I am the last Feudal Princess from the old royal bloodline. And here I offered my support to you, Himura Kenshin, so as to bring peace to this land, where war and blood has been raging on since the day I am birthed by my deceased mother."

She reaches out for his hand and held them in hers. She turns his hand around, running a soft hand over his calloused ones. Kenshin is surprised, but he kept quiet, letting the princess do as she wants with his hands.

"These hands were not the hands of a murderer…" she said to him. She looked up at him and into his face, and reaches out a small hand to brush his hair away from his face. She looked into his eyes and touches his face, and the light scar that had begun to heal on his cheeks. "These are not the eyes of a murderer…"

"Hime-sama…" the Lord calls to her from the sides. She clicked her tongue at him and shot him a glare, and he quiets down.

And it impresses Kenshin to no ends.

No one can make the Lord do something he doesn't like. Yet, this young girl, barely of age, has managed to make him back down from speaking with a glare and a click of her tongue alone. Impressive…

She returns her attention to him, and smiles at him a bright soft smile that Kenshin remembers up until now.

"These are the hands and eyes of a hero… a hero of Japan that no one knows of but me…" she said to him. He is quiet and surprised and thoroughly shocked by what the Feudal Princess had said. Not that of a murderer but a… hero?

"I am sorry that you had to be the one to cleanse this land from its respective filth and from evil influences. I am sorry that you had to be the one to carry out our dark and evil deeds. I am sorry that you have to be the one to stain your hand with blood of the innocent and the evil ones…What you're doing right now is, yes, I know… not something to be proud of…" she said to him, looking sad and forlorn with the thought that he is going to kill people with these pair of hands. "You would be killing someone's loved ones. You would be killing a father, a brother, a lover… You would be killing them and take them away from their loved ones forever… and they would not ever again see these people again… This is a cruel world, Himura Kenshin-san. A cruel world where people like me and you are there to make sure the balance of this nation, the balance where evil and good, and the balance between what is right and what is wrong is set right with… I am afraid… that there is nothing we can use but a sword stained with blood and a pair of hands willing enough to do so and a shoulder to shoulder all the burden of the sin and the guilt. And… and of me… the Feudal Princess, who's words and power I am going to utilize to the fullest to save this nation from collapse… and to bring about a new era for the new government to govern."

She looks into his eyes deeply, and he is struck by just how sad they are.

_Just like mine,_ he thought to himself. _She is just as guilty as me_…

It was then he thought of something. She just might be the one who is orchestrating these whole assassination and massacre project, funding the clans and group with powers and funds and making sure that those who want more war would stay cold in the grave. Her eyes were the eyes of a sinner looking at the world with the hope that it would become a better place if she were to give a hand in making it a better place.

By bringing death around those who wreck havoc and refuses the new era to come to them peacefully without a good fight.

"Himura Kenshin-san… I promise you, as the world falls down, you may come to me, and I will offer you my greatest support. I shall give you everything you ever wanted… be it money, fame, status, or freedom. No one will ever hunt you down, and no one shall ever again speak of the name Battousai Himura when this all ends. Due to the old King's words, we Feudal descendants of the old royal bloodline can never be another person with another status apart from the Feudal status we all are born with, no matter how much the era has changed or how modernize Nihon is. I am forever a Feudal Princess, no matter how the time and era changes. My influence will forever be strong and powerful and know to all that my words are as powerful as the words of a Lord and the King. I will protect you, Himura Kenshin-san, as the world falls down around you. You have my word…"

She looks at him and held one side of his face with her palm. He almost closes his eyes from the heat of her warm hand. They were so hot, scorching and burningly so. It was a comfort to know that someone as cold as him right now would and could receive the warmth from the Feudal Princess herself. The warmth and the words and the promise that she would protect him with all she has.

"I promise you, Himura Kenshin-san…" she said to him. Holding his hand with one hand and squeezing it slightly, she ran her thumb across his scarred cheek and smiles at him in a forlorn smile, sad for his fate to shoulder the burden as an assassin. "I promise you with my soul, Himura Kenshin-san. I swear on my soul…"

What happened was roughly around 14 years ago, when he started to become an assassin, and slowly, his reputation precedes him so much that people in the whole of Nihon (Japan) begun to hear of his fearsome name, and shivers in fear whenever someone said something about the Battousai.

Up until this day, people were still afraid of him.

Battousai Himura. Hitokiri Battousai (Manslaughter Battousai, also known as Assasinator Battousai)

The greatest assassin in Nihon... The murderer... Nihon's very own Dark Knight...

Nihon's silent and unknown hero, Himura Kenshin.

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_Just give me a reason to keep my heart beating,_

_Don't worry its safe right here in my arms,_

_As the world falls apart around us,_

_All we can do is hold on…hold on…_

_Take my hand…_

_-The Beginning, ONE OK ROCK-  
__Started Writing On: 18__th__ of September 2014  
__Finished Writing On: 18__th__ of September 2014_

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_**A/N: Well, now that the first chapter ends, please leave a review ya? No matter what! Zettai ni de gozaru yo! De gozaru yo! De gozaru yoooo! Orororoororo!**_

_**So cute. Kenshin-sama...**_

_**You'd realize it if you've been my fan for all of my works, that I like to reuse the names of my characters. My most famous characters are...**_

_**Shiratoe Saya**_

_**Kaguya**_

_**Laia**_

_**And... Well... I can't remember much. Lol! **_

_**I like to think that my characters are reborn again and again into my other fics, in another timeline, in another era, and into the future. In this way, one day, maybe just one day, I would write a fic connecting all of them together. **_

_**Lol!**_

_**Thanks for reading!**_


	2. Turn Back The Pendulum Arc 1

_**A/N: Hello everyone!**_

_**Good bye everyone!**_

_**KTHXBYE! **_

_**Lol!**_

* * *

**Fanfiction Title: As The World Falls  
****A Rurouni Kenshin Romance Fanfic  
****Main Characters: KENSHIN AND OC (SHIRATOE SAYA)**

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**Chapter 2: Turn Back the Pendulum Arc 1**

Kenshin got himself busted by the police when he helped Kaoru with her dojo when the ruffians showed up and messes things up. He single handedly fought them all, and no casualties were reported; only that everyone is knocked out for good.

And for that, he is busted.

_So much for trying to be good…_ he thought to himself. But at the very least, this is a good sign that the government is working well. Good enough for him that he smiled when he got busted by the police officers.

Once upon a time ago, hitting someone and picking a fight in Dojos are not uncommon, and the police or anyone working for the Lord, well… right now they would be known as the Policemen, would just sit by and wait to pick up the dead bodies of dead Samurais who had lost the fight. Right now, hitting someone, picking a fight and everything else that involves using brutal strength and weaponries to harm someone with or without their permissions is considered as crimes good enough for the police department to arrest these people.

Police department is working. Meaning the government is working.

_Good job,_ Kenshin thought to himself.

And as he sat in his jail cell, when the rainwater started to annoy him and wet his hakama, someone barges into the jail cell and invited him to tea.

It was a young man. A young man wearing a peculiar uniform unlike the rest of the policemen here... The other policemen stay out of his way. He even carried a long sword with a fancy looking scabbard painted in silver on a black lacquered wooden scabbard. What he heard with his extremely good hearing is that this young man barges in while waking in a quick pace, and the policemen just let him through without needing to inspect him on what grounds of orders that made him come by to the jailhouse himself.

Needless to say, it piqued Kenshin's curiosity.

"Tea?" Kenshin repeated the word.

The police officer bows his head down low, seemingly in respect and in fear with the innocent man with a mess of bird nest red hair.

"She invited you, and we were not allowed to say anything else, sir!" the police officer said to him.

"She?" Kenshin repeated the word.

"Please don't ask anything else, sir!" the police officer said to him. "Or we will get punishment for saying something we were not supposed to say!"

"Punishment?" Kenshin repeated the word.

"Sir!" the police officer's heart accelerated a mile up, and Kenshin rolled his shoulders and scratched his head, seemingly unable to think of anyone who wanted to have tea with a criminal.

The young police officer leads Kenshin to a series of corridors, cleanly scrubbed until the wooden floor shined with its finished work. _Beautifully done_, he said to himself, and walked ahead with his hands in his sleeves.

And when the young officer slides the door open, he is escorted into a huge room with opaque long curtains covering from ceiling to floor, and the patterns on the transparent curtains were that of a lily flower blooming in a small pond.

"Welcome, Himura Kenshin-san," a voice calls to him from the end of the room. There is another door open there, and it leads to the garden outside. The rain is falling down in torrents, and the sound of the rainwater calmed his heart down massively.

Light wind blew from the open door at the end, causing the curtains to billow slightly. He walked steadily, and the young police officer closed the door to the room and leaves them alone to talk.

And when he reaches the end, he saw a young lady with long midnight blue hair cascading down her back in a complicated plait, tied simply with a large red ribbon at the end of her hair, which stops just above her round buttocks. Soft fringes frame her small fair face, and a permanent blush is on her cheeks.

As she turns around, his heart almost stopped at the sight of the familiar light brown eyes and the set of red lips.

"We meet again, Himura Kenshin-san," she said to him with a small sweet smile, her voice bell-like and sweet. "How are you all these years? I trust that everything is… fine…?"

Kenshin stares at her, and bows to her low and in respect. After all, she is the Feudal Princess, and will remains so until the day she dies. No amount of money or power or influence is capable of changing her status, nor takes it away from her. She is just that influential, all thanks to the old King making that old law.

"Thank you, Hime-denka-dono. I am fine de gozaru yo…" he said to her, and almost immediately, he felt her coming closer to him.

"Please, just Saya now. The world has modernized enough that all of you are allowed to call me by my name now. No need for honoraries. Those are for the people that I do not like…" she said to him, and helped him up from his bowing position. Her hands are small, and yet they were warm. Scorching hot like the warm sun, if he may add so. Her temperature remains unchanging for all these years.

He looked down on the princess, who came up to just his chin. She is so small, and yet her eyes burn with the fiery fire of a person who has high ambition and powers, willing to make sacrifices to make something come true.

But he knew. The making of Battousai Himura is not something she is willing to do so, but has no choice due to certain reasons that Kenshin'd rather not think about, even if they are already listed out in his mind. Although he just knew that the princess will do no such thing as to cause a man to be broken and harmed mentally and emotionally, but only does so because she has no more other options, even with her massive wealth and influence. The era of the Bakumatsu is not kind to anyone, especially the females.

The young Feudal Princess, Shiratoe Saya, is famed for her wisdom and her uncanny intelligence. He had heard of her name often enough when he wanders around as a simple Rurouni for the last 10 years. Her kindness as well are almost unbelievably so, seeing as she has donated rice and other foodstuff for her people who are poor and homeless after the Bakumatsu era…

After the war, and after the Bakumatsu era ends, many were left homeless due to their men in the family going to war. Wives and children are left to roam the streets without a home and left to get by with sleeping in temples and abandoned houses. Often, these women would have no choice but to sell themselves to brothel houses just to get some money to feed their young ones. And here, is what the young Denka-hime does for her people.

Using her astonishing amount of wealth, she bought out all the homeless people who had sold themselves to brothel houses and other slave services and gave them a whole new plot of land and houses to live in, and the only thing she wants from them is that they would give her a small part of what they have grown from the lands she has given them every week and every end of the month. Kenshin has been to this particular village, where they name it as the Hanagakure, the Flower Village. She gave them endless amount of seeds and grains and saplings to grow, and even gave them live poultries, cows and horses and other farm animals. Kenshin has never seen a more livelier village with so many happy villagers living their life here. No one is hungry anymore, and all of them welcomes those who are homeless to their village.

From what Kenshin had heard from them, they had sent someone from their village to stand by at brothels area and to roam the streets, and these scouts are to bring back whomever that is homeless and to buy those girls who had sold themselves to brothel houses. Money doesn't seems to be the problem anymore. They have more then they could spend from the amount of farm animals and all the garden's veggies and rice they could sell out there in the world.

And they spoke so highly of the Denka-hime…

"Denka-hime-sama is the kindest person in the whoooole world!" a little boy said to him, swinging his hands around to form a huge circle. Kenshin is friendly to children, and naturally, children are attracted to him from his kind smiles and goofy personality. The child had lost a few tooth, and smiles up at him toothily.

"Yeah!" another kid said to him. "Denka-himeme-sama is the kindest person in the whooole wideeee world!"

"She gave us a home when we were nothing but beggars on the street…" a little girl said to him and pulls on his hakama to get his attention. "She gave us food. She gave us a home, clothes to wear, and a roof and a bed and nice blanket and pillows to sleep for the night. We have never received or met someone so kind before as to share her wealth and money with us for nothing in exchange but for what we can grow out of our garden and land that she has given us. We can never repay her debt to us… except to stay alive for her, and Papa did say to us all the time. When the time comes for it, and when Denka-himeme-sama needs us, we will all be there for her."

Kenshin patted the little girl's head and smiles at them.

"Himeme-sama saves us all…" another kid said to him. He seems to be the oldest amongst the children here, and the other children cling to him. He acts like their big brother and Kenshin smiles. Even children knew how to protect their own groups from outsiders despite having different bloodlines and different parents. So how the adults did would want to wage a stupid war so much as to wage the Bakumatsu war? "Himeme-sama… Denka-Himeme-sama… she… she…"

"She is there for us when there is no one there for us…" another child said to him. They are telling him everything, and he smiles at them for being so open with him. "So for her sake, we will be there for someone who has no one to be there for them. This is our turn to help out someone else out there. For all we know, someone might be out there suffering and living the lives we have lived before this-" the child gestured to the whole of Hanagakure, where everyone is living happily every single day, feeling blessed to be having this life after the Denka-hime saves them all from poverty.

_Even children knew how to repay a kind debt_… he thought to himself, impressed with the Denka-hime's degree of wealth as to buy a whole lot of land and fund the buildings of houses until they are capable of living without her supporting them.

In a battle that she has never been to, she is capable of thinking all sorts of strategies in the shortest time frame and lessens the mortality rate of her people. She would protect her citizens, and a strategy that involves the sacrificing would be the last choice amongst the list of strategies she has thought up.

In all, she would make the perfect leader of the country if she so wishes it to be…

He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath, willing himself to come back to reality. And when he opens his eyes, she is right there, in front of her, all grown up and… and…

And becomes more beautiful than ever…

She smiles at him widely and, in a moment when Kenshin is stunned at the beautiful smile on her fair visage, she envelops him in a hug tightly and sighs heavenly into his chest.

"I've been meaning to do these 14 years ago. Now that I got to do this, I felt so at ease…" she said to him, nuzzling her face into his chest as he stood there, stunned as his heartbeat takes on another skip with her close proximity and being overly self conscious on her arms around his body.

Her small and very warm arms…

"I thank you for being alive after all these years…" she said to him, detaching herself from him and looking up at him from their close proximity. Kenshin had to look down in order to look at her face properly, and he struggles with the rush of blood rushing up to his face. "Thank you, Himura Kenshin-san, for being alive all these years after the Bakumatsu Era… Thank you, for giving me a chance to repay your kindness and your utmost sacrifice to Nihon. Thank you, for being there for all of us, and thank you as well, for being the one who pave the future for all of us. Thank you, Himura Kenshin-san. I will never forget this debt of yours…"

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_Believe the time, it's always forever,_

_And I'll always be here, forever till the end,_

_I won't go away, and won't say never,_

_Doesn't have to be friend,_

_You can keep it till the end._

_-Clock Strikes, ONE OK ROCK-  
__Started Writing On: 22__nd__ of September 2014  
__Finish Written On: 22__nd__ of September 2014_


	3. Home

_**A/N: Hello hello helloooo! Artemis615 deshta! Konichiwa!**_

_**I noticed that my story has like... immediate fans. Wow. So nice to feel that you know? To have fans for my stories. Like! **_

_**And so, here I would like to thank those who have read this story and liked it and favorited it and all. Thank you so much. Your reviews made my day and it drove me to quickly write up a few more chappies as a reward. **_

_**Uisehman. Lol!**_

_**And so, ****within this chappie is... Himitsu (secret)!**_

_**Yay! Anxious to know right? Okay. **_

_**Come on and read it up! **_

_**Enjoy~**_

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**Fanfiction Title: As The World Falls**

**A Rurouni Kenshin Romance Fanfic  
****Main Characters: KENSHIN AND OC (SHIRATOE SAYA)**

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**Chapter 3 – Home**

Yamagata's servants came in and told Saya that he needs to speak to Kenshin regarding an urgent matter. Saya dismissed the servant with a wave of her hand, and the servant bows low and exited without once looking up at either of them.

Then, she smiles at him.

"Well, old Yama-jii requests to see you in person, Himura Kenshin-san," she said to him with a wide smile. "Best you get going before he comes here personally. I do not like it when government people barges into my private chambers here. This is my working place, you see. I like it to remain private to myself and to a fair few extended friends of mine with the special privileges. Oh, and you may come here anytime you want to, alright? My doors are open to you always, Himura Kenshin-san."

"Kenshin," Kenshin said to her, bowing his head at her slightly. "Sessha's name is Kenshin de gozaru yo. If you don't mind, you may call Sessha at that name…"

He straightens his head and again, Saya envelops his mid torso in a tight hug.

"Oh, Kenshin, you had no idea just how much I've been itching to ask you if I can call you by your name! Oh, you just completed another one of my thoughts without even knowing what I am thinking currently!"

Kenshin blinked, and tried again to control the blush that threatens to rise up to his neck by breathing deeply and closing his eyes.

"Denka-hime-dono," Kenshin started, and Saya detaches herself from him immediately and held both sides of his face and tip toes up to him.

Oh, and now they shares a breath.

Kenshin's heart accelerated another mile at their close proximity, and his eyes widens in surprise.

"Saya!" she said to him. "My name is Saya! Not Denka hime! Saya!" she said to him firmly.

"S-s-s-s-s-…" he stuttered, and Saya's frowns deepens.

He quickly made remedy to it.

"S-Saya-denka," he said to her quickly.

Oh, he just wants slap himself sometimes.

Why can't he just follow a simple order!? He kills people by orders without batting an eye, and now that this order, so simple and does not even require a katana or anyone to die, and just requiring him to say her name alone came to him like a lightning bolt out of a clear blue sky, he just had to say something that angers her.

Orororo…

She stood down from her tip toe and releases his cheeks and smiled a crooked smile at him.

And he stares at her, hoping that this moment would be frozen forever. Oh, how adorable… that crooked smile…

And this time, Kenshin slapped himself in his mind for having thoughts like that about the Denka Hime.

"Well, better than before. Saya-Denka-Hime-Sama is quite a mouthful, don't you think so? So why waste saliva and energy to say that when you can just say two syllable, Sa-Ya? But oh well, it's alright. Better than having to read out eight syllables every time you wanna address me or call me up… right?" she said to him and wriggled her eyebrows at him. Kenshin almost blushed.

And just in time, a knock sounded on the door again and Saya, realizing that she is keeping him behind with his meeting with Yamagata, quickly pushes him out of the door.

"Orororo," Kenshin said to both of them, surprised with Saya's sudden action at pushing him out of her chamber.

"You're late for your meetings with Yama-jii!" she exclaims to him. "I don't want him to ever come here again! Go, before he comes here himself!"

And with that, Kenshin found himself standing in the room where Yamagata is smoking on a cigarette.

"It's been a long time. Where have you been hiding?" the man in white said to Kenshin.

"Yamagata-san," Kenshin said out his name.

Yamagata stood up and put out the ember light form the ends of his cigarette. "For the past 10 years, whenever I heard a skillful Rurouni rescued someone, I sent my men out to investigate…"

He moves back and turns his back to Kenshin, a brave act considering that Kenshin is a former assassin and could kill him in less than a second if he so wishes to, just by attacking his back or his spine. One move and everything would go 'snap!'.

Brave move indeed…

"In that era back then, we were on different paths. We each hoped for a better country…" Yamagata sipped on his tea and pointed towards the man standing beside them, the one who had brought Kenshin to Yamagata. "He is now known as Fujita Goro. He now works for me and has been assisting us…"

Fujita gave Yamagata a bow, and looked nonetheless grateful for this life right now. Kenshin smiles a little.

_At the very least, some of us gets to have a good life,_ thought Kenshin quietly.

"What do you want from Sessha?" Kenshin asks directly.

"There are people openly trading these…" Fujita said, breaking the silence he has hold onto since Kenshin stepped into this part of the room. He shows Kenshin a small black item wrapped in white gauzy handkerchief. Kenshin took it and smelled it.

_Ah hean (Opium),_ he thought with a grave mind and heart.

"These are also known as 'The Spider's Web'," Fujita said. "It might look like an ordinary opium, but it is a completely different type. This is a lot more addictive than the ones we have seen before."

Yamagata pointed towards the opium in Kenshin's hand and said gravely, "Opium destroys nation. Even that great Qing Dynasty were unable to stop it. A part of that country eventually becomes an English Colony."

Kenshin sighs and gave the opium back to Fujita. "I'm just a lowly wanderer. Why are you telling me these?"

"Those people who created this thing-" Fujita said to Kenshin, holding up the opium now wrapped safely in the confines of the handkerchief. "They must be thinking about something much more horrendous."

Yamagata walks back towards him and stopped in front of him. Leaning in, Yamagata stares into Kenshin's eyes. From here, Kenshin could see that Yamagata's eyes were clear, and devoid of any lies or any evil intentions.

His request is simple and sincere…

"Please lend me your strength," Yamagata said to him. "I will get you a key position in the army, and…" holding up both of Kenshin's hands, Yamagata shakes them a little and said seriously, "With these hands of yours… once again…"

But Kenshin cuts him off.

"Sessha have no plans to land an important position in the army by being a manslayer de gozaru yo," he said to him firmly, throwing Yamagata off.

And Kenshin saw a flash of red in Yamagata's eyes.

Yamagata laughed, and repeated what Kenshin had said, "A manslayer… huh?"

Letting go of Kenshin's hands roughly, he said angrily, "That was all done for completing the revolution!"

And the next thing Kenshin knew, he is thrown into an unwilling battle with Fujita.

Kenshin inches back while Fujita advances on him. He had no choice but to step into the rain in only his socks.

"Please put away your sword," Kenshin said to Fujita.

"Nonsense!" Fujita exclaims and swings his sword down on Kenshin.

He kicked Kenshin in the abdomen and threw him into the rain and mud. Kenshin quickly regain his composure and position himself in battle defensive mode.

The rain is coming down hard, and thunder claps across the dark skies. Fujita advances on him as well in the rain, and smiles a crooked smile.

He swings his sword around, and Kenshin evaded them expertly and quickly. Fujita manages to unsheathe Kenshin's sword from its scabbard, and Kenshin is forced to use his sakabatou.

"That sword's edge that points at you, it will make you suffer," Fujita said to him.

With it, he forced Kenshin's sword down onto his shoulder, and Kenshin's sakabatou cuts his shoulder where his sword now rests. Blood seeps through his clothes quickly, and Fujita continues to press on it.

"Like this…" he said to Kenshin, and applied more pressure to his sword, cutting deeper into Kenshin's shoulder.

"STOP IT!" a familiar voice broke out in the midst of the noisy rainfall and thunder claps. Fujita looked up and balked at the sight of Saya rushing out into the rain.

"D-Denka-Hime-sama!" Fujita's eyes widens in surprise and shock, and releases the sword that he is holding and lets it drop to the ground as he, too, sinks into a deep stoop, going down on his knees to greet the Feudal Princess.

"How dare you!?" Saya exclaims at him and helped Kenshin up from the ground. Servants immediately came flooding from behind Saya and held numerous umbrellas around Saya and Kenshin. "How dare you?!"

"Denka-Hime-sama!" the servants all called out.

"Denka-Hime-sama, the rain-"

"Denka-Hime-sama, please, the rain-"

"Face the wall for 3 hours! No one is to give you any water or blankets or even dry your clothes! You are to stand facing the wall with all your wet clothes and hold your sword on top of your head with your hands held straight and high! Am I to be understood!?" Saya exclaims angrily at Fujita, who is still currently kneeling on the muddy grounds.

"Hai! Denka-Hime-sama!" Fujita replied her enthusiastically and immediately went to the nearest wall to stand and face there.

And Kenshin blinked in confusion.

"Are you alright?" Saya asks him, her handkerchief pressing onto his bleeding wound as she lead him back to the room where Yamagata is standing there with a flabbergasted look on his face. And when Saya saw him, she clicked her tongue and begun another round of scolding on Yamagata.

And Kenshin is thoroughly impressed.

"You!" she pointed one finger at him, and Kenshin could see that Yamagata visibly jumped up in shock and surprise. "You again!? You started this, didn't you!?"

"I-I-I-…" Yamagata stuttered.

_Orororo_, Kenshin thought to himself. _The old great Yamagata… is stuttering!? This might turn out to be interesting…_

"Explain! In detail! Now!" Saya said to him in a rather booming voice, and Yamagata jumped again into the air.

"I-I did not order Fujita to-"

"Then how did this happened!?" Saya gestured towards Kenshin and his wound and snapped her head back at Yamagata. "How!?"

"I-I-I…" Yamagata stuttered, not being able to answer her questions.

"Saya-Denka," Kenshin started, deciding to help this old man once. Yamagata looked visibly relieved when Kenshin decided to speak out. "Sessha thinks that Sessha will be leaving now… thank you for your generosity and the tea, Saya-Denka…"

"I'll leave with you, Kenshin," Saya said to him determinedly. "No one is to follow me, alright?" she said to her servants, and all of them bows to her and quietly leaves, but not before leaving a small bundle of clothe wrapped up in a rather plain white clothe.

And all that is left is Yamagata…

"You!" Saya points one finger at Yamagata. Yamagata, as per usual, jumped into the air.

And it almost had Kenshin on a laughing moment. He manages to reign it in and only let out a small twitch at the corner of his lips.

"The Wall! Now! Alongside Fujiko!" she said to him, and Yamagata quietly went to stand beside Fujita.

"Fujita des," Fujita said to her bravely, correcting her on his name that she seemingly called on wrongly.

"Damateru (Shut up), Fujiko!" Saya exclaims, and 'hmph' at the both of them now facing the wall. It was a comical sight to see that a powerful man like Yamagata submits to the whims of a young Feudal Princess. Oh, but what he can do about it? The Feudal Princess is powerful enough to overthrow any Lord or Kings she wants with verbal power and her presence alone in court. If she wishes to, Yamagata would not live to see the sun the next day and no one would even dare to talk about it.

In a way, if they value their lives, they would not and never want to cross her.

"Let's go, Kenshin!" Saya said to him with a wide smile. In the moments that she is scolding Yamagata and Fujita, she had wrapped his shoulder up with her handkerchief to stem blood flow. Pulling on his sleeve, she leads him out of the place and out of the main door of the police department.

Only to run into Kaoru waiting in the rain holding onto one umbrella…

"Kaoru-dono," Kenshin said her name.

And for Saya…

"Kaoru-chaaaaaan!" Saya lets out a full blown scream at the sight of Kaoru. Kaoru's eyes widen at the sight of Saya and went up to her happily.

"Saya-chan!" Kaoru calls her, and causes Kenshin to raise his eyebrows.

'-chan'? Kaoru is calling Saya 'Saya-chan'? _Oro…_ Kenshin thought to himself. _How brave…_

Or that she might just don't know who Saya really is.

_Yet_, Kenshin thought to himself.

"Kaoru-chaaan~" Saya whines to her pitifully with an adorable expression of puppy eyes. "Can I stay over at your dojo? I'm homeless again this week..."

"Again?!" Kaoru said to her in an exasperated tone. "Mou, just what did you do to earn yourself all those time-outs from your relatives!?"

"Hmm… himitsu (Secret)!" Saya said to her and places one finger on her lips with a wide smile.

Kenshin stares at her again. _Oro…_ he thought to himself. _She's so adorable…_

Kenshin rolled his eyes and almost slapped his own face in real life. Lucky him, he manages to caught himself just in time and instead, scratches his head awkwardly, hoping that none of the girls noticed just how fast he raises his hand and suddenly just stops and slowly went to scratch his head.

That is major awkwardness if either of them found out or notices.

In fact, both of them saw what Kenshin did, but did not find it to be something strange enough to ask him the bonus question of 'what are you doing?' So instead, they asked practical questions.

"You don't have a place to go as well, right?" Kaoru said to him politely with a smile. She handed him the umbrella and said to him, "You can come home with me."

Kenshin looked up at her, surprised at the offer. Kaoru smiles at him and said, "Because you've helped me."

Kenshin smiles at her, knowing what was to come and decided to be truthful about it.

"Now you understand though, don't you?" he said to her, and moves to exit from the police department's front door. "That once Sessha was a manslayer-"

"That's not the person I know," both Kaoru and Saya said in unison.

Kenshin, surprised, stopped at his steps, and he heard giggles coming from these two girls, possibly laughing at how in sync they are in their ways to stop Kenshin from leaving.

…To stop him from leaving…

"The one I met was a Rurouni named Kenshin," Kaoru said to him, holding the umbrella to shield him from the rain falling mercilessly from above the skies. "Everybody has one or two things in the past that they'd rather not share… right?"

Kenshin stares at her, baffled with her kindness with someone like him. Saya was smiling at him from behind Kaoru, and nods her head at him vigorously, as if to tell him to just agree to come home with them.

"Here," Kaoru gave him the umbrella in her hand. "Let's go!"

Kenshin, still baffled, stares at the umbrella thrust into his hands and looks up at Kaoru's figure walking away from him into the rain. She stopped and turns around, and said, "Hurry up! Come on!"

Saya went up to him and grabbed the umbrella from his hands and opens it up, holding it up on their heads and linked arms with him. "Come on!" she said to him with a bright smile. "Let's go home!"

* * *

_So I'm wishing, wishing further,_

_For the excitement to arrive,_

_It's just that I'd rather be causing a chaos,_

_Than lying at the sharp end of this knife._

_With every small disaster,_

_I'll let the water still,_

_Take me away to someplace real._

_Coz they say home is where your heart is set in stone,_

_Is where you go when you're alone,_

_Is where you go to rest your bones._

_It's not just where you lay your head,_

_It's not just where you make your bed,_

_As long as we're together, does it matter where we go?_

_Home, home, home, home._

_-Gabrielle Aplin, Home-_

_Started Writing On: 24__th__ of September 2014_

_Finished Writing On: 24__th__ of September 2014_

* * *

**_A/N: Hello again! Please do drop by a review! It woulda make me more motivated to write more of this fic! Thank for the support of Kenshinxoc! _**

**_I love Kenshin-sama! Kyaaaa de gozaru yo!_**

**_Oro ta! _**


	4. Baba (Old Woman)

_**A/N: Hello! Yes, this is another chapter in one single day. There would be another chapter soon. I'll be updating three chapters today. Bonus! Yay!**_

_**And so, thanks for the lovely reviews and support! **_

_**Love Kenshin-sama! Kya de gozaru yo!**_

* * *

**Fanfiction Title: As The World Falls**

**A Rurouni Kenshin Romance Fanfic  
****Main Characters: KENSHIN AND OC (SHIRATOE SAYA)**

* * *

**Chapter 4: Baba (Old Woman)**

"Come inside," Kaoru invited Kenshin and Saya into her home, which is just right behind the dojo. Kenshin admires the simplicity of the dojo/house. Everything felt so homey and warm, and he really felt at ease when he is here.

"Excuse me de gozaru yo," Kenshin said to her and bows before taking off his shoes and stepped gingerly into the dojo/house. Kaoru waves her hand excitedly at Saya and Saya runs to her with a giggle. Apparently, while they walk back towards Kaoru's home, Saya told Kenshin about how she met Kaoru and how they are now besties and that she used to spend the nights at Kaoru's home.

"The guy at the beef pot place is so rude. So I just scold him until he gave up and apologize to Kaoru-chan. That's how I get to know Kaoru-chan. Then I got attached to this dojo and her home here, so I make up some excuses about how my relatives kicks me out of the house for one week when I made some major troubles, but in fact, I am the only one left in the family now. No relatives of the sorts. So please don't tell Kaoru about my secrets alright? I'll tell her when the right time comes."

"Sou deska (I see)…" Kenshin said to her, nodding his head and holding onto the umbrella for her. he is infinitely taller than her, and she is such a pitifully small and short little thing that Kenshin just does not have the heart to let her hold the umbrella for him even though she is the one who had offered it.

"Yaho!" Saya calls, and up sprung a boy covered from head to toe in black soot from starting the fire for the kitchen and the bathhouse. "We're home!"

"Saya-nee-sama!" the boy screams in excitement and ran up to her and Kaoru. When he saw Kaoru, his smile disappears and be replaced with a rather arrogant look with his nose in the air. "Yo, busu (ugly)."

Kaoru ignores him and rolled her eyes and said to Kenshin, "This is Yahiko Myojin. I teach him swordsmanship sometimes. He is sort of like a housemate to me.

"I come here for you since you have no apprentice! None! Zip!" Yahiko said to her rudely.

Kaoru smiles up awkwardly at Kenshin. "He has a bad mouth but he has potentials…"

Saya slapped the back of Yahiko's head and chided him on Kaoru's behalf.

"You little bad boy!" Saya said to him and pinches his cheeks. Yahiko screams in pain. "How can you be so rude to Kaoru-chan! Apologize!"

"Gomenasai na, Busu (ugly)," Yahiko said to her, and got slapped again by Saya.

"Ow! I already apologized to her naaa!" Yahiko protested and rubbed his head.

"Drop that 'Busu (ugly)' comment from now on, Snotty Nose Gaki (kid)!" Saya said to him with her frowns deep and both of her hands on her hips.

"Don't call me Snotty Nose Gaki (kid)! I am not a Gaki (kid)! I am a man!" Yahiko said loudly with his big mouth.

And Saya smiles.

Kaoru whispers to Kenshin, "Saya-chan is good with words. Don't ever let her caught you say something that she can use against you. When she did, I promise you that she would use it repeatedly for the rest of your life…"

Kenshin smiles... _So the young Feudal Princess has a sneaky and naughty side as well de gozaru na?_ Thought Kenshin. _She would make a good leader someday…_

"Are you really a man, Yaho-chan?" she said to him chidingly and tapped his soot-blackened nose. Yahiko brushes her hand angrily away and huffed. "A real man never ever said a woman is busu (ugly) you know? They would do anything just to praise the woman… on whether it is bijin (beautiful girl), or kawaii (cute). Are you a real man, Yaho-chan?"

And true to Kaoru's words, Yahiko visibly stiffened and started to turn around in a weird robotic way. Kenshin sums to himself that this is Yahiko's ways of telling everyone indirectly that he is not willing to do this but is forced to do this and so he is doing this.

…Ne de gozaru yo…?

"K-K-K-K-K-Kaoru-nee-chan…" Yahiko stuttered, trying hard to sound polite. "Y-Your hair is so nice today!"

Everyone blinked in unison. Saya and Kenshin both looked up at Kaoru's hair and found that her hair is not at all as nice as what Yahiko had said. In fact, it was a mess and it is wet from the rain.

And Kaoru is self conscious about how everyone is staring at her hair.

"N-n-nande shouka (W-what is it?)?" Kaoru said to everyone exasperatedly. "Mou, Yahiko! Can you choose a better thing to praise about other than my hair right now?"

Yahiko tried so hard to think up another praise for Kaoru that he looked as if he is having a constipation. Saya laughed out loud and patted him on his back.

"Alright, alright, enough for today's praise, ne?" Saya said to him and Yahiko noticeably relaxed.

"Kenshin will be our new housemate starting today!" Kaoru said to him, and Yahiko regards Kenshin up and down with doubtful eyes.

_For a young child, he sure is brave and cocky…_

"That means I'm your Senpai," Yahiko said to Kenshin and walks up to him, holding out his hand for Kenshin to shake it man-to-man way.

_Yes, very cocky_, thought Kenshin. _But nonetheless cute…_

"What?" Kaoru said, frustrated with Yahiko's rude behaviors.

Kenshin had a way with younger people, especially children. Children will stay as children until the time comes for them to grow up and face the world as a young adult. No matter how hard a child tries to be mature, they will still be children.

And children will only bend to you if you are kind and all smiley face to them and comply to their wishes and whims.

Kenshin knelt down on one knee and shakes Yahiko's hand firmly, respecting his wishes to be treated like a man instead of as a child. "It is nice to meet you!" Kenshin said to him with a wide bright smile.

Yahiko is surprised. He did not expect that Kenshin would accept such rude behaviors from such a young person to be his Senpai. But he did. Effortlessly and gladly.

"O-Oh! (Right!)" said Yahiko in reply.

"Say~" another feminine voice calls out from the bathhouse. "Can you introduce him to me too?"

"Who are you!?" Kaoru and Saya both pointed one finger accusingly at her and said the same thing.

_They really rhyme with each other_, Kenshin thought to himself with a smile.

Saya snapped her head at Yahiko. She had thought that it is funny that Yahiko would set up the fire for the bathhouse so early in the afternoon. Turns out that he is heating the bathwater for this… this… this intruder!

_So the culprit is Yahiko_, Saya thought to herself and narrowed her eyes on Yahiko.

Yahiko, upon seeing Saya's eyes narrowing down on him, gulped audibly.

Kenshin almost laughed. But he manages to hold it in_. Man-to-man, man-to-man_, he reminded himself. _A man must never laugh at another man's demise when the other man is in deep trouble. _

"You!" she pointed one finger at Yahiko, and he jumped in surprise. "Define the mess," she said in a low tune voice, and Yahiko again gulped audibly in fear.

Kenshin again picks up on her traits that her pointing fingertips have the power to convey just how serious the matter is and thus enables her to acquire information that she wishes to know in a short time frame.

And her glaring gazes…

_Oro_… Kenshin thought to himself. True, the Feudal Princess Saya's eyes are the lightest brown he has ever seen throughout his life. He has never seen another person with another set of eyes like hers, so light that it almost looked amber. When she widens her eyes or when she is angry, it would seem as if it glowed for a while, and he sums it again to himself that with her pointing fingertips powers that enables her to acquire information in the shortest time frame and her very light pair of light – almost amber – brown eyes comes together in a package that materializes and takes the form of a very powerful authority figure.

She, Shiratoe Saya, the last Feudal Princess Denka-Hime-Sama, is a very powerful authority figure if she so wishes to.

"S-She was walking around soaking wet. S-So I thought I should give her a hot bath…" Yahiko explains while his hakama fluttered, signifying that his legs are shaking in his pants.

Saya is a fearsome person to behold if she ever wants quick information.

"Ne~" the lady started again. "Who is that gentlemen over there?"

"W-wait a minute-" Kaoru stepped up to her and opens up a conversation, but she ignores her and instead focuses on Yahiko, who is obviously going to spill all the juice out for her.

And of course, she would reward him with a wide and beautiful smile.

Saya, on the other hand, does not like how the situation is going. The lady sat herself right beside Kenshin on the wooden platform and stares up lovingly at Kenshin, seemingly love struck at how handsome Kenshin is despite his large 'X' scar on his left cheek.

"He is Rurouni Kenshin," Saya said to her almost arrogantly, introducing Kenshin to her and stepping up onto the wooden platform, to which she proceeds to hook one arm around Kenshin's arm possessively and glares at her with her light brown eyes. "And he is mine. So back off, woman."

"My," the lady held one hand on her mouth and laughs daintily. Saya narrows her eyes at her and 'hmph'-ed at her, not happy with how she has tried to set her sight on Kenshin. "Spicy little girl, aren't ja? I thought little girls are supposed to get along well with someone like Yahiko-kun's age instead of Kenshin-san here…"

Saya's frown deepens and she flashes her eyes at the lady angrily. It appears to not have its effect on her, and so Saya changes her technique. "Appearance deems wise, I am actually older than I look. Besides, a _babas' _(Old Woman) like you should stay away from bishounens (young beautiful men), because bishounens (young beautiful men) are meant for bishoujos (young beautiful girls) like me."

Two loud audible snorts sounded in the air, and the lady snapped her head around to glare at Kaoru and Yahiko. Apparently, the winner for round one verbal attack is Saya.

Smugly, she smiles at her pleasantly. Saya knew that she have won, and so, she shall be polite with the loser. After all, a sore loser is something that'll attract troubles, so why not make them a satisfied loser instead? Would save her a whole hell lot of troubles…

"Sessha didn't catch you name there," Kenshin started, hoping to ease and end the tense air around them. Saya snapped her head around and glares at Kenshin. Kenshin, not understanding why she is angry at him, scratches the back of his head and mumbles a small "Oro…?" awkwardly under her burning gaze.

The lady gave him a wide smile and takes the chance and excuse to touch him by extending her hand out for him to shake. After all, a courtesy once taken out for someone, that someone must return that courtesy regardless of the situation. So since the lady has extended her hand to him, he must return the favor by shaking her hand back politely.

"I am Megumi Takani. Nice to meet you," she said to him, and his hand extended to shake hers.

"Likewise de gozaru yo," Kenshin said to her, shaking her hand. She lets their handshake lingers a while longer and enjoys the fuming Saya standing just right beside Kenshin.

Megumi obviously never knew just how far Saya is willing to go to protect what is hers. She thought that Saya would just fume silently and be jealous at her for having touched him and with him allowing her to touch him. And so, Megumi smiles smugly.

_I think I won this round…_ Megumi thought to herself conceitedly.

But no.

She is wrong.

Saya, in her fuming state, exclaims loudly one single sentence of "IYAAAAAAA! (NOOOOOO!)", stepped up, holding onto each of their wrists, and breaks apart the handshake and proceeds to brush Kenshin's hand with her yukata by placing the palm of his hand on her thigh and move his hand up and down on her thigh.

Everyone's eyes bulged wide open.

And Kenshin has no time to reign down the blush that rises up so quickly in this event.

And so, Kenshin flames up bright red at Saya's actions.

"S-Saya!" Kenshin said, clearly embarrassed at being manhandled by Saya when she held tightly onto his wrist and rubbed the palm of his hand along her thigh, as if wanting to get rid of Megumi's touch by wiping his hand on her yukata.

On her silk yukata.

And on her thigh as well.

"Don't touch my Kenshin!" Saya warned Megumi angrily. "Don't you ever touch my Kenshin or I will shave off all of your hair while you sleep tonight, kono kuso baba (you stinking old woman)!"

Megumi gasped audibly and held her hair in her hand protectively and leans away from Saya. "You wouldn't dare…!"

Saya snapped her head up and this time, her eyes flashes bright golden amber and shows no signs that she is joking.

This is serious mode Saya.

Feudal Princess Saya…

Denka Hime Saya.

"I am murderous if any other girls other than me touch my Kenshin," Saya said in a low dangerous tone. "So do not – I repeat – DO NOT force me to shave off your hair. Because if I really do it, I will make sure the whole of Nihon's wigs goes extinct overnight. Watch me if I dare to do it, so don't dare me, Kuso baba (stinking old woman)!"

Megumi gulped.

"M-ma! (Well!)" Kaoru broke the tense air like a knife slicing into butter with her joyful voice. Everyone almost heaved a sigh when Saya's gaze returns back to its original light brown color. "Kenshin still has his wet clothes on. We don't want him to catch a cold right now, right? Well, come with me, Kenshin. I'll get you something to change."

Kenshin nodded his head and scratched the back of his head awkwardly. As if on cue, he sneezed.

And Saya gasped.

"Oh! Oh! Oh!" she panicked and flapped her hands around. "Go! Now! Take a bath! Yaho-chan! Heat the water up before Kenshin gets a cold! Quick!"

"O- h-hai! Right on it!" Yahiko said and rushes to put more wood and kindle the fire in the hearth while Saya pushes Kenshin into the bathhouse.

After a considerable amount of time where he took the time to wash himself completely clean for what seems to be like the first time since forever, he came out wearing a bathrobe yukata and saw Saya waiting outside for him. Upon seeing him clean and holding a towel to rub his wet hair, Saya smiles widely and her eyes twinkles at the sight of the light blushes the hot bathhouse is causing him to have on his fair visages.

"Oh, I wish I can see you coming out of the bathhouse like this every single day, Kenshin! It would make me a happy woman forever!" she said to him happily, totally ignoring Yahiko at the sides there, who's facial expression just screams 'Scandal!' and rushes off to tell Kaoru of it. Kenshin couldn't help the blush coming up again from his neck and coughed to avoid the attention of her possibly focusing on his blushes and awkward moment.

"S-Saya…" Kenshin started awkwardly, wanting to thank her for the attention and somehow wishing to tell her that he is the one who is supposed to say that to her instead of her saying it to him.

But if so, he would have sounded like a complete pervert.

A man? Waiting outside the bathhouse for a lady to finish her bath? And praise her and admire her freshly washed body and her alluring blush on her cheeks and those wet drops of water dripping from her chin and her forehead and possibly her wet set of long hair that his hands is just itching to reach out and caress it and kiss it and-

_STOP_! He said to his brains and closes his eyes tightly to will away the inappropriate thoughts regarding the Feudal Princess in his mind.

"Come!" Saya said to him happily, apparently unaware of his internal struggles and instead pulled on his hand and dragged him to his room. "I'll show you to your room! Yours is right next to mine, what coincidence, since your room is basically the only room left here in Kaoru's dojo. I am so not going to sleep with that Kuso Baba. It is either Kaoru will sleep with her or she will come and sleep with me. That Kuso Baba can take the other room. If there are no rooms left, I shall ask my men to built a quarter _especially_ for Kuso Baba to sulk and brood inside like a brooding hen," Saya said all of these with a smile on her face, but when it comes to Megumi's part, her smile slips off her face gradually and at the end, her face is a serious piece of blank, no-shit-eating serious Say.

Before he could say anything, they've arrived outside his room. The shoji doors are all open to air the room out, and Kaoru is just rounding up a corner holding onto a tray of clothes.

"Saya-chan, Kenshin," Kaoru greets them with a wide smile. "You probably would like a change of clothes, wouldn't you?" she asks Kenshin.

Kenshin smiles awkwardly at her and nod his head once at her. "I'm grateful."

Kaoru sets down the tray of clothes on the floor and took the clothes up into her hand. "My father was a big man. So the only ones that might still fit you are his stuff from his younger days…"

She stood up and handed him the set of clothes. "Perhaps… is it too flashy?"

Saya smiles from the sides, happy to see that Kenshin is starting to settle into their little weird family.

"No, this is fine de gozaru yo," Kenshin said with a light chuckle. He finds that he likes the color of the clothes that Kaoru-dono gave him, and the texture is soft and comfortable to wear as well.

"Then, we'll leave you to change now, ne?" Saya said to him and dragged Kaoru out of the room and closes the doors so that Kenshin shall have some privacy to himself. They giggled as they walk away from the room and begun to chatter something inaudible. Kenshin smiles to himself, somehow feeling happy that the once lonely Denka-Hime has found herself a friend at last.

When he finishes donning on his new hand-me-down clothes, he felt more at ease with himself, as if he had shed his past and some of his burden by taking off his old clothes and be replaced by a set of new hand-me-down clothes. He felt lighter, invigorated, refreshed, and rejuvenated. He felt at ease. He felt free.

He felt at home.

He smiles to himself. _And to think that this was once my dream that I thought I could never have no matter what. _

He chuckles to himself. For 10 long years he wandered around Nihon as a rurouni. A simple, poor rurouni, who doesn't have a permanent home, and lives off scrapes of money he earned by doing simple odd jobs, and sleeps at wherever it is warm and has a roof on top of his head. God knows how long has it been since he slept in a proper futon (Japanese bed) with a proper pillow and blanket. God knows how long has it been since he has been alone. God knows just how long has it been since he last craved the companionship of another person, of someone he can call a friend, of someone who knew things about him other than the general knowledge of who Himura Battousai is.

_And perhaps… someone to love as well_… he thought to himself.

_I wish that… if this is a dream, it will never end. I wish that… if this is a dream, I will never wake up from it. I wish that… if this is not a dream…_

His heart pounded. What if this is not a dream…?

_If this is not a dream… and when I wake up, I am still a nobody, a rurouni, sleeping by the temple's grounds again… then…_he thought to himself determinedly_. Then I shall find this dream. _

_And if… if this is not a dream, and that everything is real… Saya is real, Kaoru-dono is real, Yahiko, Megumi-dono, this set of clothes and this dojo and this new home… is real… then… then…_

Kenshin closes his eyes and takes a deep breath, inhaling the sweet scent of the incense burning somewhere in the house and the old aged wood and the tatami padding on the floor… he opens his eyes and smiles to himself.

_Then I shall open my eyes and see the world through the eyes of those that I've touched, and those that have touched me._

* * *

_Dream, send me a sign,_

_Turn back the clock,_

_Give me some time,_

_I need to break out,_

_And make a new name,_

_So open our eyes,_

_To a brand new day._

_-Ryan Star, Brand New Day-_

_Started Writing On: 24__th__ of September 2014_

_Finished Writing On: 24__th__ of September 2014_


	5. Beef Pot

_**A/N: Here it is! The third update for today! I'll have to start up writing the other fics now. So kthxbye until next time maybe one week later opps opps opps!**_

_**Kya de gozaru yo! Love Kenshin-sama!**_

* * *

**Fanfiction Title: As The World Falls  
****A Rurouni Kenshin Romance Fanfic  
****Main Characters: KENSHIN AND OC (SHIRATOE SAYA)**

* * *

**Chapter 5: Beef Pot**

That evening, Kaoru mentions about Beef Pot, and it sets off Saya almost immediately.

"Oh, oh, oh! Beef Pot!" she almost moaned and salivated at the sheer sound of the name of the famous dish. "It's best eaten with many people so as to promote the fighting spirit of who-gets-to-get-the-last-morsel-of-fried-tofu! Oh~!"

Kaoru suggested they eat outside tonight, so everyone cheered happily for the prospect of getting Beef Pot as their dinner tonight.

Kenshin is sitting outside his room on the wooden platform, enjoying the wind while he still can. He couldn't help but to think that one day, he would have to leave this wonderful place and continue to be a rurouni again.

_Rurouni Kenshin_, he thought to himself with a light chuckle_. It actually sounds better than Battousai Himura…_

"Kenshin," Saya calls him happily and sat down beside him, handing him an apple. He accepted them with thanks and held it in his hand, turning it side by side and up and down while pondering on his thoughts alone.

Saya notices this, and stopped munching on her apple.

"Is there something that bothers your thoughts, Kenshin?" she asks him gently so as to not surprise him with a question out of the blue. He looks at her, and smiles.

"It's actually nothing de gozaru yo," he said to her, looking up at the skies gradually turning orange from the sunset. The light breeze is cool and gentle on his skin and ruffles up his hair fondly like a mother does to a child, and he closes his eyes, smiling as he enjoys the breeze.

Saya stares at him. She knew something is bothering him, and she couldn't help but to think that it has something to do with him being Battousai Himura.

For 10 years she has been searching for him and his whereabouts. Nothing came up from the local news, and certainly none of her best detectives and hunters is working as well. No one can find Himura Kenshin when he really wants to stay out of the radar. And so, she waited for the time for him to finally show up. She knew, because she believed it that one day, he would rise again and become the rightful hero he is supposed to be. Not as Battousai Himura, but as Rurouni Kenshin, the Wandering Swordsman that fought for justice with his Sakabatou.

That… she believed in him. She believed in him that much. She just did. No questions asked. No commitments. No rules. No empty promises. And certainly unconditional…

She still holds well to her promise. Anything that he ever wants; be it freedom, wealth, status, or anything at all, it would be his so long as she could provide it to him… She would fulfill his deepest wish and desires, and she would ask for nothing else in return.

He has done so much for the country, and the country is oblivious to their Dark Knight's rightful mission – and that is for the sake of the new era. He had done so much, and asks for nothing in return. No money, no status, no house, no women, no nothing. He just walks off at the end of the Bakumatsu War era and disappears, like a ghost. She, of course, is heartbroken that he had just disappeared like that without saying goodbye. She searches for him for years, and finally, she found him.

She found him.

She thank whatever god there is above the clouds and heavens above, especially to the stars and moon above the night skies that he is still alive, and is well and healthy. She thanked all supernatural powers there is in Nihon, thanking them for protecting Kenshin while she is not at his sides.

He had protected Nihon, and at the same time, protected her.

And for that, she will never ever forget his kindness.

This time, she will protect him.

No matter what the cost would be.

He had her undivided attention and unlimited patience with him, and in line with that, her unconditional love.

This time, for sure… she would be the Queen that protects her Knight.

She stepped down from the wooden platform and come right in front of Kenshin and stood in front of him. She smiles at the sight of him closing his eyes and enjoying the wind like that. He looked very much like a child, and very much like a man who is resting his soul for a while after a long journey.

"Kenshin," Saya calls to him gently, calling him to look at her. He opened his eyes, and he is greeted with a soft smile from her face, surprising him from the inside out.

Initially, he thought that she would give him the pity look, the look that said everything is going to be alright when it is not. He thought that she would pat his shoulders and console him and tell him that it is not his fault and all for whatever things he has done in the past and all.

But no…

She smiles at him gently, and reaches out one hand to touch his face, the part that had a scar on it. The big ugly scar that tells everyone just who he is at first glance...

Himura Battousai, the manslaughter.

His heart pounded whenever she touches him. She particularly likes to touch his scarred face, he noticed. She would trace the scars with her finger, and palms his cheek, and his cheek would feel so warm that he just wants to close his eyes and enjoys the warmth from her hand and her palm.

She stepped closer to him and looks down into his eyes, where he looks up at her from the difference of their height at this position; with him sitting down and her standing up in front of him. Saya traces the scar on his cheek, as per usual, and palms them, as per usual. She smiles at him, then leans down closer to his face and… and then… and then…

Himura Kenshin's heart stopped beating for a second, and he stopped breathing altogether.

She kisses his scarred cheek gently, her eyes close and her lips are so smooth and silky and soft, like pillows caressing the scars on his cheek. Her long hair slides into her front side and brushes Kenshin's face, and his eyes widen in shock while his hands trembles.

Saya. The Saya Denka Hime. The Feudal Princess, Shiratoe Saya. Shiratoe Saya. Saya.

She, Shiratoe Saya, the Denka Hime of possibly the oldest royal bloodline ever existed right now in Nihon, is kissing his cheek.

A Feudal Princess is kissing a lowly Rurouni's scarred cheek.

"D-Denka-" Kenshin started stuttering, surprised from the inside out with her affections for him on full swing while they're alone in this part of the house.

"Saya…" she said to him, assuring him to address her by that name again as she smiles against his cheek. She wrapped both of her arms around his torso and pulls his face to her, hugging him gently like a lover would to their love ones. "It's Saya. You are not allowed to call me Denka or any other titles, Kenshin. You are my hero. Please, by all means, call me Saya. It would make me a happier person, Kenshin…"

Kenshin blinked his eyes at the sound of the word.

Happy…?

It would make her a happier person if he calls her by her name alone?

No titles?

Oh, dear. It sounded scandal enough and intimate enough that he could feel a hot blush coming up from his neck. Holding them down and taking a deep steadying breath, Kenshin closes his eyes tightly and begun trying to form the word in his mouth.

And failed.

"S-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s…" Kenshin stuttered terribly, prodding Saya to release herself from embracing him and look at him with a quizzical look on her beautiful face.

"Saya?" she said to him, cocking her head to the side and raises both of her eyebrows to coax him into saying her name properly, as if to teach him a step-by-step on how to pronounce her name properly without all the titles. "S.a.y.a…?"

"S-s-s-s-s-sa-sa-sa-sa-saaaa-…" Kenshin stuttered again, and Saya pinches his thigh hard and he jumps into the air, yelping her name in the process.

"Saya!" he said her name, and Saya laughed happily and clapped her hands together.

"You've finally said it! Oh, I love how you say my name! Say it again! Say it again! Saya!" Saya said to him, and he sighs with a small smile.

"S-S-S-Saya…" he said to her, and now, he could feel a blush coming up to his face and coloring his cheeks bright red. He knew the blush is visible now, because Saya is laughing harder at the sight of his face. He looked down, ashamed to be caught blushing openly like a little boy.

"Oh, Kenshin, you are the most adorable men I have ever had the privilege to meet! You are my hero, Kenshin! I love you!" she said to him and hugged him tightly.

And Kenshin froze.

"L-l-l-l-l-l-l-love…!?" Kenshin stuttered again, and his face burned another shade of deep crimson, now growing to an alarming degree of deep red that his entire head is red.

"Yes!" Saya said to him happily and rubs her head against his chest affectionately like a cat, finally having confessed to the love of her life. "I love you, Kenshin! Since the first day I saw you in person 14 years ago! I love you!"

Kenshin's blush escalated to a terrifying degree. His whole face, ears and neck are beet red, and he felt extremely hot all of a sudden.

And Saya felt the hotness from his skin.

Detaching herself from him, her eyes widens in alarm at the sight of the terribly embarrassed Kenshin. "K-Kenshin!?" Saya exclaims in surprise. "A-are you alright!? Why are you so red!? Are you sick!? Fever!? Not well!? Kaoruuuuu-chaaaaaan!" Saya exclaims into the air, and out came Kaoru running at full speed at them.

"W-what is it!? What happened!?" she said to them, her hair in disarray as she has been trying to boil water at the kitchen, but is surprised by Saya's sudden scream fest of her name and she came running out at full speed to see what is happening that made Saya scream her name and on the way, she ran into a tree branch hanging low and got her hair all tangled up with it. She saw how red Kenshin is and widens her eyes, and begun to laugh and point one finger at him.

"K-K-Kenshin is blushing!" Kaoru laughed harder at the sight of Kenshin with his head down and staring on the floor, hoping that his hair would help save some of his pride and dignity by covering up parts of his blushing state.

"This is serious, Kaoru-chan!" Saya exclaims in panic. "Kenshin is sick! Kenshin is sick! Oh, oh, oh! Help! Help! Kuro-chaaaaaaaan!" she exclaims into the air for the second time, and this time, Kenshin's blush suddenly retreated back from the surface of his skin and out came Battousai mode.

He sensed a sudden change in the atmosphere, and there are true samurai spirit lingering in the air after Saya screams for help. He held out one hand in front of her and pushes her towards Kaoru.

"Stay behind me," Kenshin said to them seriously, battle mode on and true to his instincts, a few men dressed in dark hakama and white shirt appears in front of him.

And what had Kenshin on alert mode more is that these guys seem to just materialize out of nowhere. No footsteps, no footprints, and absolutely no sound. Only instincts…

Fearsome instincts to go into battle mode.

The air is tense with their arrival. There are four of them. Each had on the word of "Fear" behind the back of their shirt, and they each carried a katana. A long katana... And their eyes are murderous.

Kenshin drops down to battle position and all the four men drop down and draw their sword out of their scabbard. Before Kenshin could draw his sword, Saya slips past him and stood in front of Kenshin.

"Saya!" Kenshin exclaims in surprise, moving forward to try and pull her back to stay behind him. "It's dangerous!"

The four men moves in to charge at Kenshin, and Saya is stuck in the middle. Kenshin moves fast towards her, and caught a hold of her waist and wrapped his arm around her waist. Saya gasp in surprise, and ended up lying in Kenshin's embrace as he held his Sakabatou in front of him to protect her from the four men who just suddenly materialized out of nowhere silently.

_Silent Samurai, is what they are de gozaru yo_, Kenshin thought in his mind and puts himself on high alert mode.

"How dare you-" one of the men said to him, and stopped moving when he had Saya in his arms.

"Let go of her!" the other men said to him.

"We're warning you, we are not joking here," the third men said.

"We just want Denka-Hime. Let her go. Do not, I repeat DO NOT harm her. If one of her hair is sliced from her head, we'll have your brains for dinner tonight," the last men said to him. He appears to be their leader, despite his rather average stature comparing to the other men.

Kenshin stares them down, and Saya moves in his arms.

"Saya, don't move," Kenshin said to her without looking at her.

"No," she said to him. "It's just that-"

"Now is not the time, Saya," Kenshin said to her seriously.

"To speak of the Denka-Hime's name on first name basis!" the tallest men said to him angrily. "How dare you lowly samurai call her by that?"

"You shall die by our blade today, Samurai!" the second men said and charges forward.

And before any of them could slice each other apart, Saya screams again.

"STOP THIS AT ONCE!" she exclaims loudly, and Kenshin is so surprised by her sudden scream that he dropped his sword and held her tightly against him.

He dropped his sword.

For the first time in his life, he dropped his sword.

All for this little lady…

"Oh dear," Kenshin said in a small voice. "This is not good de gozaru yo. Saya, I told you to be quiet…" he chided her a little, and then…

She pulls his ponytail.

"Ororororo! Itai itai itai yo, Saya!" Kenshin exclaims in pain as his hair is jerked backward by Saya.

"I said stop it, then you must stop it! Understand?!" Saya said to him angrily.

"Wakateru de gozaru yo… Itai de gozaru yo… itai…" Kenshin said to her in a slight whining tone, and Saya then turns her gaze to the four men standing in front of her.

Her gaze is that of a burning, blazing, laser-like gaze.

And the four men trembled in fear.

_Wait…_

Kenshin thought to himself in surprise_. Is that… fear?_

"Kuroumaru. Tamaki. Ren. Bozu," she said the names of these four men, and they all shivered as they stood up there with their heads down on the ground. "Did I give you permission to attack?"

She said these words in a completely calm manner, but her eyes are blazing and there is a scary smile on her lips.

She is not in a joking mode.

"N-no, Denka-hime-sama," one of the men stuttered.

Stuttered…

And something clicked in Kenshin's mind.

When you put what Saya had shouted earlier together with the sudden appearance of these four men, you will get…

Secret Royal Bodyguards…

"T-the guy had a sword, Denka-hime-sama-" one of the guys stuttered to her a reason.

"Don't you dare 'Denka-hime-sama' me, Tamaki!" Saya scolded him, and flashed him one of her glares. He immediately shrinks back and whines.

Whines…

A full grown, fierce samurai that belongs to the Secret Royal Bodyguards… whines…

"Oh, you're all idiots!" she said to them, and let go of Kenshin's hair. She then went up to the men and gave each of them a kick in the shins. They all gritted their lips and held themselves up with pride and stood still. "I only call for Kuroumaru, why are y'all here!?"

"W-we though…" one other said to her in a stuttering tone as well. The man looked at his other friend beside him and made a face of sort, as if to tell him to tell Saya what is going on instead of him telling her. It got Kenshin to think that maybe all of them have stuttering problems when it comes to speaking with Saya here. He nearly chuckles, but he held them back and continues to watch the scene with Kaoru behind him.

"We?!" Saya repeated the words fiercely. The man shrinks back in fear and said with his head looking down on the ground.

"W-we thought that Denka-Hime-sama you need our help… or something… along… the lines…"

"Something. Along. The. Lines…?" Saya repeated the words, albeit in a scarier, lower tone for her voice.

And all of them trembled.

Kenshin heard Kaoru snorted into her hand, and Kenshin almost lost it when he felt his lips twitch upward a little.

For such a small lady, Saya proves to be quite the fearsome Feudal Princess for all these bodyguards of hers. They were all looking down on the ground like puppies being caught in doing a wrong thing. It would be a hilarious event where everyone is laughing out loud were it not because Saya is there to glare at them with her all powerful laser eyes.

_Spicy_, Kenshin sums it up to himself about Saya in his mind, smiling a little at the sight of the fearsome little Feudal Princess.

"SUMIMASEN DESHTA, DENKA-HIME-SAMA!" all of them bows to her at the same time and exclaims out an apology to her.

She stood there in front of them, crossing her hands and staring at them with her glaring eyes.

"The walls," she said to them in a toneless voice. "Now."

They all shuffled – yes, shuffled – to the nearest walls and begun facing it, standing there and looking at the wall silently with a miffed expression as each of them kept on giving glances at their leader, Kuroumaru.

And Kenshin thinks he just knew what happened.

He sums it to himself that Kuroumaru had heard the calls of help from Saya, and had asked the whole lot to follow him seeing as he thinks that their Denka-hime is in trouble. And now that all of them got punished for that stupid command from their leader, the rest of the lot gave Kuroumaru hot and miffed glances and Kuroumaru's ears flames up in embarrassment.

"Denka… hime… sama?" Kaoru repeated the honorary titles that the four bodyguards called Saya.

Saya turns around and smiles up brightly at Kaoru.

"I'll tell you more when we started to cook. My guess is that we can't go to the restaurant today. There's too many of us and these bums over there-" she gestured to the four bodyguards standing in a row facing the walls with a miserable expression on their face with her head. "Those bums there eat a hell lot of rice and potatoes and eggs. Hmm. Na Kenshin, would you be kind enough and buy some rice and ingredients for our beef pot? We'll have a feast at home!" Saya said to him, and handed him a heavy little red pouch and sends him off to the Dojo's gate by pushing him from the back.

"Ororororo," Kenshin said, surprised with Saya's sudden happiness. "Saya," he calls her.

"Go on! I'll tell you everything when you come back. We'll be waiting here for you to come home, kay?" she said to him, and waves him goodbye.

Kenshin stares at the bright smiling little princess, and couldn't help but to smile at the sight of her happiness.

Home, what a strange but nostalgic word, thought Kenshin. It's been a while since he had a place he could call home. It sure does sound nice to hear that word again.

"Then…" Kenshin started. "I'll be home in a jiffy de gozaru yo. Please wait for me."

"Hai!" Saya said to him, and waves him goodbye. Kenshin waved back, and walks to the market with a wide smile on his face. "Itterasshai!"

Kenshin smiles. "Ittekimasu de gozaru yo."

For once, there is a home where he could come back to, and there is someone waiting for him there to greet him when he comes back. _Dinner would be great tonight,_ he thought to himself, and wrapped his hands inside his shirt and sighs while he looks up at the bright sky, the sun setting coloring the whole sky in a flurry of colorful strokes of orange and purple. "Tonight's meal would be great de gozaru yo…" he said to himself, and walks on, feeling lighter and happier than ever.

* * *

_Unconditional, Unconditionally,_

_I will love you, unconditionally,_

_There is no fear now,_

_Let go and just be free,_

_I will love you unconditionally._

_Come just as you are to me,_

_Don't need apologies,_

_Know that you are that worthy,_

_I'll take your bad days with your good,_

_Walk through the storms, I would,_

_I do it all because I love you,_

_I love you!_

_So open up your heart and just let it begin,_

_Acceptance is the cue to be…_

_To be truly free,_

_Will you do the same for me…?_

_-Katy Perry, Unconditional-_

_Started Writing On: 24__th__ of September 2014_

_Finished Writing On: 24__th__ of September 2014_


	6. First Kiss

_**A/N: Good day all! Hello! This is the new chapter! Took me a while to write it up but yeah! It's here! **_

_**Kya de gozaru yo! Love Kenshin-sama!**_

* * *

**Fanfiction Title: As The World Falls  
****A Rurouni Kenshin Romance Fanfic  
****Main Characters: KENSHIN AND OC (SHIRATOE SAYA)**

* * *

**Chapter 6: First Kiss**

The Beef Pot is quickly made and done after Kenshin came back from buying ingredients. Saya lets her bodyguards off the hook this time, and they all happily cheered (except Kuroumaru. He is static and silent and cool all the time) and grabbed the things from Kenshin, causing him to spin comically and fell down onto the floor.

"Ororororo…" Kenshin said, feeling dizzy from being spun around so many times.

"Are you alright, Kenshin?" Saya asks him, helping him up and bringing him into the house. "Oh dear, there is dirt on your hakama…"

She fetches out another handkerchief and pats the dust off his hakama.

"There!" she said to him with a wide smile. "Good as new!"

Then she helped him correct his clothes, his obi and the sword at the sides of his hips.

Kenshin couldn't help it when the thought about just what a good little wifey she will make when she finally get married in the future. Then the image of her getting married to him and him having her in his arms for their first night, naked in bed, hot and sweating and with him moving none stop into her open legs, her hips a warm cradle welcoming him to lay in it and she kept on calling on his name with that sexy breathy voice, her face an epic picture of perfection when he made her climax for the first time while he lay in between her open legs. Her core is just there, and he just insert himself into her open core, dripping wet with her-

And he shakes all those thoughts away by shaking his head hard.

"K-Kenshin!?" Saya calls to him, alarmed with him suddenly shaking his head hard. "Are you alright?"

"H-Hai de gozaru yo," Kenshin said to her, feeling a little dizzy after a hard shake of the head. _Those thoughts_, he thought to himself. _Must get rid of them. Must get rid of them. Must get rid of them!_

It turns out that Saya have explained her situations to Kaoru, and Kaoru, despite being initially surprised with the almost ungodly status of what her best friend is, took it quite well and just continue to address her as Saya-chan due to a certain reason.

Saya has been lonely for most of her life due to her high status in society. With Kaoru as her first friend, she is glad that someone does not treat her as the Denka Hime that she is, but as a simple young beautiful girl named as Saya. Kaoru does not understand many things regarding the royal family, but she is satisfied with just knowing Saya as who she is right now.

And Saya couldn't appreciate her friend better than secretly refilling the stock room of Kaoru's home slash dojo with food supplies that would have lasted a whole year.

When Kenshin wanted to help in the kitchen, the royal bodyguards finds some excuse to bump into his shoulders.

"Opps!" Tamaki said in a mocking tune and a smirk behind his hand covering his mouth from Saya's sight. "I just pass by and you're there. Can't see you when you're all small and skinny there…"

"It's alright de gozaru yo," Kenshin said to them pleasantly and continues to try and help out in the kitchen.

Then he got bumped again.

And again.

And again.

5 times his basket of potatoes fell onto the floor and he had to pick them up one by one since all of them rolled away from him. But still, Kenshin smiles at them politely and picks up the potatoes dropped onto the floor one by one patiently.

Then another person crouched in front of him and helped him pick up the potatoes on the floor.

"I'll help you peel these, Kenshin," Saya appears in his vision with a wide smile.

"Arigato gozaimasu de gozaru yo, Saya," Kenshin said to her with a smile, and Saya smiles back at him brightly and happily.

"It is my utmost pleasure to be able to help you, Kenshin. No matter how small or how insignificant the help is, I will still help you. I am here for you unconditionally forever, Kenshin!" Saya said to him happily, and Kenshin couldn't help but to feel humbled that such a high status lady likes her would choose to love him, of all the people in Nihon.

To love him.

To love a Rurouni.

To love Himura Kenshin, the Hitokiri no Battousai…

He smiles to himself, a light blush coloring his cheeks from the rather flattering comment she gave him. He watches as she picks up the potatoes one by one and hums a happy tune to her. Then, he is suddenly struck by what her bodyguard's expression looks would look like were they to listen on to their conversations.

Because suddenly, just suddenly, the kitchen has become very quiet…

And Kenshin couldn't help but to want to look up to the rest of the bodyguard's expressions.

And saw – to his amusement and true to his predictions– the rest of the bodyguards have all stopped doing whatever it is they're doing and staring at Kenshin with green envy.

"Arigato de gozaru yo, Saya," he said to her with a wide smile, and together they went to the outside wooden platform there to peel the potatoes, leaving the bodyguards there in the kitchen to settle their own problems with the 'too small' wok and 'too small' pot.

* * *

"Sessha likes you too, Saya-Hime," he said to her out of the blue while peeling potatoes with her by the wooden platform. Saya is surprised with his sudden confessions as well that she dropped her potato.

And with his quick reflex, he caught onto the potato and gave it back to her.

He decided to just go with the flow, and just tell her what he feels. He felt that it would have made her feel and look bad were he to reject her based on the reason that he is a rurouni, a lowly samurai and a whole lot of other reasons that could be easily remedied with. He felt that it is better to just tell her the truth, and the truth is… he has the exact same feeling that she has for him.

"Sessha likes Saya-hime best," he said to her with a big smile. "Saya-hime is gentle, kind, and extremely adorable and sweet. Sessha likes Saya-hime a lot… Please take care of Sessha in the future, as Sessha would take care and protect Saya-hime as best as Sessha could as well."

Saya was stunned. She never took Kenshin to be the type to be this direct with the truths. She thought that she would have to wait like forever for him to pluck up the courage to tell her how he feels, and now that he did it within the same day that she confesses, her heart soared, knowing that Kenshin have liked her back. Not that Kenshin is a coward, she knew that. Kenshin is perhaps the bravest men she has ever have the privilege of knowing in her entire life, and to be able to be born in this time and era and see him here alive and well is something that she would not ask for anything else from her God or Fate or any super powers up there above the clouds. She is contented with seeing Kenshin right here, right now, with her, by her side. It is just that it might be that Kenshin have troubles to open up to people that soon, or it is just that Kenshin might not know how to tell her exactly how he feels about her without considering the facts of their difference in social status.

But now that the Bakumatsu era has ended, and he is now a free roaming wandering rurouni, he is free to do as he likes with his life.

And with whom he loves…

And to have him tell her he likes her as well would mean that he reciprocated to her feelings for him…

Oh dear…

Saya started to blush adorably underneath Kenshin's gaze, and he smiles at her sweetly.

"Kenshin…" she calls his name, and he continues to smile at her with that charming sweet smile of his.

"Sessha likes Saya-hime as much as Saya-hime likes Sessha… Saya-hime, Sessha only wish that Saya-hime would not mind that Sessha is a rurouni and that Sessha is once a manslayer-"

She quickly stood up from her seat and places one finger on his lips, silencing him effectively immediately. With a kind smile and sparkling light brown eyes, Saya smiles at him brightly and held his hand in hers, in which he has dropped both his knife and potato in surprise with Saya's sudden movement from sitting to standing in front of him.

"Kenshin…?" she started softly. "I love you, Kenshin. Unconditionally… I am yours if you would have me. I want nothing in return. You can keep all of your past a secret if you'd like and if it makes you comfortable and safe. I won't ever ask. But if you wish to tell me anything, I am here to stay and listen to you. I want nothing in return from you. No serenades of love, no gifts, no display of affections in public or anything. Just… knowing that you love me in return are the best gift ever for me… and just your heart… in exchange for mine…"

Kenshin's eyes were wide with surprise. He couldn't believe what he had just heard. Here he is, with the Feudal Princess, one of the last surviving old royal bloodline that is powerful enough to overtake Nihon with a verbal order, hand in hand and both had made a confession that both liked each other very much till the degree of love.

If Kenshin were to turn back the pendulum and the time, and goes back to the time when he first met the princess face to face that fateful night when she told him that he is not manslaughter to her, but a hero that Nihon knows not, he would not have embarked on a wandering journey for 10 years after the Bakumatsu era ended 4 years after he started to become a manslaughter. Instead, he would have stayed with her after the Bakumatsu era ended. He would have stayed with her.

He would have stayed with her.

By her side…

And protect her, and guard her, and love her as much and as freely as he could as a man free from any sort of contract such as becoming manslaughter for the party.

But the Pendulum continues to swing, and he couldn't turn it back now. 10 years is gone. Now what he has is his remaining life as Kenshin. He knows not about how long he could live. 50, 60 years? Was it enough to repay her kindness to him? That she has saved his life recently? That she has possibly orchestrated the deaths of all those that Kenshin himself have slaughtered while he is Hitokiri no Battousai…? That by doing so, they are capable of enjoying the peaceful era right now into the future, and that Kenshin is part of this peaceful era now?

True as per the sayings, 'There would be no life if there is no death'. Death is only the beginning of life. With death, comes life, and with a manslaughter slaughtering so many to death, comes a peaceful era that is worth so much more than what he had sacrificed once upon a time ago as Hitokiri no Battousai.

He had sacrificed his youth, his time, his namesake, his soul and his humanity for this new era. And he knew, deep down, she has sacrificed more…

From his extended travelling around Nihon as a rurouni, he had overheard many spoke about the mysterious, cruel and yet kind Denka Hime. She sentences 50 of the ministers to death because they were all planning to throw a revolt and treason against the new Lord, and it was just a rumor. Her actions have earned many fears from the people, but yet at the same time, he understood why she would do it. It is better to squash it out when the saplings is still a sapling, rather than wait until the saplings have taken deep root into the people's heart and that… that… is trouble enough for him and for all of Nihon's people.

To be a leader, one has to be cruel at the right time and kind at the right time. She is cruel when needed to be, and kind when needed to be. There are many subsidized shops that she has set up all around Nihon, especially in poorer areas that people can go and take food or young plant saplings and seeds and planting tools for free just by registering into the system. Kenshin thought that it is a good idea. With the shops giving out ratios of food and grains and seeds for the poor villagers, crime rates have gone down rapidly, and with only by sacrificing a little of her massive amount of wealth, she has solved the crime rates in all of Nihon.

She loves her country, and she would do anything just to keep it safe and peaceful enough for her people to live in it safely. He had heard all of her deeds, be it cruel, bad, kind or generous. He had heard it all, and he knew, she does what she can for her country.

He looked up at her. Again, they were in this position, where she towers over him while standing up and he is sitting down on the wooden platform. He held her hand in hers, squeezing the small and soft hand gently and smiles softly.

"I am flattered, Saya," he said to her in a small voice. "I am flattered that you would give me your heart… flattered that you are willing to look past my awful past and my scars and my battered soul and would still want my broken heart despite how and what I am once upon a time ago. Thank you, Saya-hime…"

"Kenshin…" she said his name gently, enticing him to look up into her face with her small innocent voice. He looks up to her, and she smiles at him.

Holding both sides of his face with her hand, Saya leans down and gently places her lips on top of his, kissing him gently and softly like a butterfly's touch, as if afraid that she would startle him and he would retreat back into his shell again.

Kenshin closes his eyes in bliss. She is kissing him. She is kissing him. Saya, his Denka Hime is kissing him.

Passionately.

Bringing up his arms, he wrapped both of his arms around her small waist tightly, pulling her into his body and embrace. She moaned at the contact, and it prodded him to hold her tighter against him, as he spreads his legs and pulls her small body in and entraps her there with his legs clasped tightly around her thigh, causing her to be unable to run away from him.

Because once he starts, he will never stop.

This is what it means to be a manslayer. This is what it means to be someone known as a Battousai.

And this is what it means to be Himura Kenshin, the swordsman with a heart.

He angles his head and deepens the kiss to another degree of intimacy, his tongue intruding into her surprised open mouth when she gasp and he smiles against her lips when he felt her small hand fisting his clothes behind his back while her other hand held onto his hair, holding in her moans of pleasure as he held her tightly in between his legs and in his strong arms.

But alas, they have duties, and that is to finish peeling the potatoes at hand. If they were late, or if they took too much time to peel a basket of potatoes, someone is bound to come by and saw them in this compromising position. Hell, he is halfway across the world in his mind to take her then and there, and the Hitokiri no Battousai in him had wanted to tore open her yukata and reveal her precious set of breasts. The beast inside him wanted to bite her neck and make her bleed, wounding her and causing her to be shown to the whole world that she is taken and she is his and his alone now. He wanted to mark her, and his arms tightened around her waist and she moaned adorably against his mouth from the tight hug.

He ended the kiss by sucking on her bottom lips into his mouth hard and releases them with a loud 'plop'. Her eyes were droopy, and her lips are kiss-bruised. Oh, he loves how she looks like after their unexpected make out session.

**She started it first…** the beast inside him said. **So finish it. Tell her that this is no way to tempt a beast. You finish what you started. Go on, tell her.** **Show her who the Battousai is…**

_No._ Kenshin said to the beast inside him. _I will treasure her like the Denka Hime she is, not treat her like any woman that men often do these days. I will love her wholeheartedly, and I shall only take her as mine in body and in soul on our first nights as newlyweds. Only that time will I make her mine completely. _

**You fool…** the beast said to him, and retreated back to the back of his mind, knowing that it is useless to argue with Kenshin right now when he is so determined to keep Saya's virtue until the right time comes for him to claim her.

He held Saya in his arms for a while more, knowing that her legs are weak from the amount of passion he had imbued in their kiss earlier on. He smiles against her hair, nuzzling into her hair and loving the scent that is uniquely hers. Sweet lily smell… strange that he never thought that Lilies have this mouthwatering scent that just smells so delicious.

He strokes her hair gently and held her like a babe in his arms. She sighs into his ministration and closes her eyes, enjoying the attention that he is showering on her.

"I love you, Kenshin," she said to him, causing him to again go into one of his flaming embarrassed moments where his ears would flame up.

He had never met a girl that so openly tells someone how she feels to them. He had also never met someone like her before, where she would hug him when she is happy, and tell him directly that she loves him and that he is adorable and handsome and cute and sweet and kind.

And that she dubs him as her hero as well.

Kenshin smiles against her hair. _Such a sweet little baby princess_, he thought to himself. _Such a sweet, sweet princess… _

"The same goes for Sessha to Saya-hime as well…" Kenshin said to her, expertly avoiding saying the direct words of 'I love you' to her. He wanted to save that word for special occasions. It is good enough that she constantly tells him that she loves him. He is happy with it. And to make her happier, he would save these words until something special comes up…

Such as…

When they're alone…

In the broom cupboard…

Or the storage room…

Or the bathhouse…

…

Bathhouse?

Bathhouse would mean that he would have seen a very naked Saya…

Oh, naked Saya?

His ears flushed deep red at the thought.

_Naked Saya… means that Sessha would have to have better controls at Sessha's desires to have her…_ he thought to himself quietly.

Lucky for him, Saya broke the silence. Were it not of her, he would have continued to think those naughty things that he is going to do to her when they are alone.

"Ne… Kenshin," she calls him and detaches herself from his embrace. Now that Kenshin is holding her by the waist, she is sitting on his thighs and being held like a precious babe in his arms. Kenshin enjoys having her in his arms, and if he can make Saya a happy girl, then he would do this every single day.

"Nandes ka de gozaru yo?" he responded to her calling his name with a smile.

She looks at him with a pitiful look. Oh, suddenly her eyes go watery, and it is brimming with… with…

GROWWWWWWLLLL~~~!

Kenshin blinked his eyes in confusion. Where on earth does that ungodly sound comes from?

He noticed that Saya's face is bright red with shame and that she refuses to meet his eyes.

Maybe… that sound… had… come… from… her?

"I'm hungry, Kenshin," she said to him shyly and looking down on the ground, fingering on one part of the fabric on his sleeve. Kenshin finds that a truly adorable act and enjoys looking at her many antics. "I wanted us to stay like this for a while more, but I am just so hungry, Kenshin… Can we continue to do this later on if we have any alone time together?"

She looks up at him through her lashes, and Kenshin be damned, no one could ever resist her requests when she looks at someone through her lashes like that. It was so tempting, so seducing, so sweet, so pitiful, and so… so… so…

"Anything you want, Saya-koi (Koi=Love)," he said to her in a whispering tone, and Saya smiles shyly back to him. Kenshin's smiles widens another fraction when he found out that the more he comes closer to her, the more she would shrink from him, and the redder her ears reddens.

_Oro_… Kenshin thought to himself. _So someone can get shy as well; now Sessha knew it de gozaru yo…_

He decides to test it out by leaning in close to her face and come nose to nose with her. Saya is forced to look into his eyes at their close proximity and is unable to look away, because Kenshin had caught her pair of eyes with his and held her gaze there.

"K-Kenshin…" she stuttered shyly, unable to look away from his pair of very close eyes.

"Hai, de gozaru yo?" Kenshin replied her, his breath fanning her face and mouth and it brought a tremor down her spine that Kenshin felt it when he had his hand behind her back. _Oh, how pleasurable, to feel you trembling in my arms, Saya-koi… thought _Kenshin.

"I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I…I'm shy…" she said to him bashfully, and Kenshin laughed out a loud laugh.

"Alright, alright. Sessha won't tease you anymore alright?" he said to her with a chuckle now and then. He lets her go and they quickly finish peeling the potatoes and returns to the kitchen, smiling at each other sweetly and openly.

And Kenshin sweat dropped and swallowed a gulp when he felt four pairs of eyes burning the back of his head.

Saya, of course, noticed this and gave them all a good glare and a loud audible click of her tongue. And all four of the royal bodyguards disappear in a shuffle, resuming what they are doing and pretending nothing is wrong and everything is alright.

Kenshin smiles at Saya, and that is when Kenshin felt the happiest when she would smile back at him unconditionally.

* * *

At night, when the Beef Pot is finally ready, everyone cheered at the sight of the boiling meat and veggies in the delicious broth. After their "ITADAKIMASU!" prayer before their meals start, all the royal bodyguards sprang up from their seats and fought with each other to get the best piece of meat and places it in Saya's bowl, surprising her.

"Here, Denka-hime-sama," Tamaki said to her with a wide goofy smile. "I heard that this was your favorite piece of the meat."

"No, you idiot!" said Bozu. "This one is your favorite, right, Denka-Hime-sama?"

"Wrong, Wrong," Ren said to them all. "Denka Hime-sama is on a diet. She loves Mushrooms best."

And Kuroumaru just picked up seaweed piece from the side dishes and gave it to her.

"… Denka-hime-sama loves seaweed best…" Kuroumaru said to them all and sat down quietly, eating his bowl of rice peacefully like an old man.

"…Like an old man…" Megumi mumbles to herself, and Kaoru heard it and snorted into her rice.

Saya, on the other hand, is miffed.

"If I take all the meat," she started. "Then Kenshin? Kaoru? Kuso Baba (Megumi: "HEY!")? Yaho-kun? All of you?" her eyes were wide and glaring. Her bodyguards all shrank back into their seats under her glare alone and she sat back down, gave them a 'hmph' and places the meat into Kenshin's bowl, Kaoru's bowl, Yahiko's bowl and, to Megumi's surprise, her bowl.

"Come on!" she said to them cheerfully. "Eat up! Eat up!"

Despite having fought constantly with Saya, Megumi did not expect that she would be so kind as to share with her something that came from her bowl that her bodyguards have picked for her. Megumi bit her lips to contain the sudden strange feeling overwhelming her currently, and quickly eat up her rice and beef slice.

_I will never forget this kindness you've shown me, Saya-Denka-Hime_, thought Megumi as she ate her rice and looks at Saya, who is fussing over Kaoru's and Kenshin's bowl.

But the guards would have none of it.

Tamaki, easily the bravest out of the lot and one of the most brainless one, pushes the beef pot out of the way of Sanosuke and towards Saya.

"Denka-Hime-Sama," he said to her sweetly. "Eat up. Or else some freeloader is gonna finish it up for ya…"

And that is enough for Saya to snap.

She places her chopstick down on the table gently and stood up. And Tamaki is in it this time.

"The wall, and a bucket of water on top of your head. Out, to the gardens. **NOW**!" she said murderously to Tamaki and the rest of her guards.

When one guard is at fault and to be sentenced to punishment, the rest shall follow suit due to rules. It is so that the rest of the guards would be careful enough to not make any mistakes that would have cost his guard group dearly by being given punishments.

And this time, Tamaki tears up.

"H-H-Himeme-sama…" he said to her almost sadly in a whining tone, and Saya paused.

And everyone watches her expression changes from angry to surprise sans pity.

Yahiko… on the other hand, knew just what is going on with her. It's not the first time he had used this technique on her, and so…

To save his new lot of 'friends', as he would call the royal bodyguards, he excused himself from the dining table, places his chopstick on the table and proceeds to lie down on the floor nearest to Saya.

And then…

"Haaaa~!" Yahiko whines and started to kick his legs up in the air. "Saya-nee-chan~! Saya-nee-chan~~! Saya-nee-chaaaan~~~~~~!"

And Saya's expression changes within a second.

"Y-Yahiko!" Saya started. And Yahiko winked at Tamaki and grinned widely and continues to whine. He knew his trick is working when Saya calls him by his real name without any suffixes. "Yahiko! Y-You can't use that trick on me! It's- It's not working!"

And in which it is then Tamaki gets what Yahiko is hinting at him. It was also this time then, all the males in the room realize just what it is that made Yahiko goes all out on whining.

Saya is weak against cute men who whine adorably.

Very weak against it.

The four royal bodyguards grinned with each other and wriggle their eyebrows. Then…

Chaos erupted in the dining table.

"Denka-himeme-sama~~~~!" Tamaki whines adorably and pretended to cry while wiping his eyes with his wrist. Saya gasped and held her chest with one hand at the sight of the oh-so-shining whining group of cute men. "Denka-himeme-sama~~~~!"

"Denka-sama~~~!" Bozu said to her and started whining too.

"Deeeeeennnkkaaaa-himeeemeeee~~~!" Ren started his whine too. And the last to go is…

"D-Denka-Denka-hime-sama… onegai (please)… yamede k-kudasai (stop please)…." Kuroumaru said to her stutteringly while avoiding her eyes, finding it shameful to be doing this to press the Denka Hime to not give out another round of punishments for her royal bodyguards.

And everyone's heart practically stopped beating.

When Kuroumaru begged like that, everyone can't help but to think about dirty things. Kuroumaru is easily the most handsome and beautiful men amongst the four bodyguards, and he is tall, buff, has strong muscles and long black hair tied back in a neat ponytail and long fringes that covers part of his face.

And Saya had the hardest time out of all of them, seeing her bodyguards whines for the first time had her heart stopped beating altogether.

"Too cute… to cute…!" Saya mumbles to herself…

And then…

Oh no.

Kenshin.

Everyone is looking at Kenshin.

"No… no… Kenshin…!" Saya said to him almost desperately, holding onto his arm as he looked at her then at the royal bodyguards then at Yahiko. Everyone presses him with their looks to be the next one to whine as well. All the men have whined, even Yahiko have whined his part. Now, all that is left is Kenshin.

And he gets the cue to just whine to make everyone's life easier afterwards.

_Oh well_, he thought to himself. _What is the harm in a little whining de gozaru na?_

He blinked at them, and then turns towards Saya. She is giving him a desperate look of knitted eyebrows, and her eyes were wide with the expectation and hope that he will not join them in their whining.

Or else, they're gonna win.

Kenshin takes a deep breath. Steadying himself is important, since his Saya-Denka had a knack of making him red out of the blue anywhere and just anytime throughout the day. Lifting one of his hand, he brushes the long fringes framing Saya's face away from her smooth cheeks and, leaning into her face – and to add it all up – he started to feel a blush coming and thinking that with him blushing a little, he would have a higher chance of being capable to coax Saya to just drop her charges on the punishment of her royal bodyguards.

And so, for the first time ever, he allows himself to be taken over by his own blush of embarrassment.

And then…

"Saya…" he started out slow and deep, and everyone is looking at him. Damn it, he thought to himself. All eyes on him are really causing his blush to deepen in its color and intensity.

He gritted his teeth and braves it through. His everyday peaceful life depends on this. Should he fail, he would have hell with the royal bodyguards guarding Saya the Denka Hime of the Feudal Bloodline.

"K-Kenshin…" Saya stuttered, surprised with him being so gentle and forward with her all of a sudden. Her heart picks up speed and her breaths comes in short pants at their close proximity. A steady blush is coming up her neck, and slowly, her ears are red, then her face, then her neck.

"…" Kenshin was silent, his eyes looking away from hers purposefully, wishing to extend this so-called embarrassment to another terrifying degree.

"…Onegai (Please)…Mo ii (Enough)…" he said to her, looking away and blushing up with embarrassment at having controlled his voice enough that it sounded a little like a young bishounen boy at the Red District trying to avoid being punished by his mistress who had bought his time with money.

And with that, Saya fell down onto the floor on all fours and clutches at her chest, heaving hard and panting. The rest of the royal bodyguards and Yahiko cheered and screamed victory, all punching Kenshin playfully on the shoulders and patted his mop of bird-nest hair playfully.

"You're approved! Approved!" Tamaki said to him happily. "Welcome to the Denka-Hime Fan Club!"

Saya, on the other hand, is still trying to gather her wits and her self control back up. She has possibly seen one of the most adorable looks of the other side of Kenshin, and she couldn't hold herself from letting her imaginations run wild in her head. Oh, she has always been weak against whining cute men and kids. Whining, to her, is like a plea of help that she couldn't get away from. A plea for help is what she as the Denka Hime is supposed to do by reaching out to them and help them.

And since this is whining, and this is pleading at the same time, and asking for help in other words, she couldn't help but to just let it go for once with her naughty bodyguards.

In other words, she just suffered a cuteness-overload-syndrome.

* * *

_Believe in time, it's always forever,_

_And I'll always be here, forever till the end,_

_I won't go away, and won't say never,_

_Doesn't have to be friend,_

_You can keep it till the end._

_And we shall be lovers from henceforth._

_-ONE OK ROCK, Clockstrike-_

_Started Writing On: 24__th__ of September 2014_

_Finished Writing On: 24__th__ of September 2014_


End file.
